Violanthe's Blog

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This one seems like the most obvious excuse. And perhaps because it's such a common excuse for not writing, I'm especially resistant to it. Yet, when the evidence presents itself, can I really ignore it?

I work 1pm to 10pm every day. Add in my commute and I usually get home between 10:45 and 11. I get up at 9:00 and work on ARWZ in the mornings. I have freelance work I do during my lunch break. My weekends are usually packed with social events, primarily hanging out with my boyfriend and parents to make up for my odd hours during the week when I don't get to see them. Sometimes I feel like every moment of every day is scheduled up.

However, as it turns out, this is only truly a feeling. I may get home at 11:00, but I don't typically go to bed until 1:00. That's more than enough time for writing, and a perfect time, too. It's quiet, end of the day, no distractions...

Well, except for one. Most days when I come home, I'm exhausted and I just want to plop on the couch, eat some dinner and watch DVD's.

So I have the time to write. But what about the will? Could it be, after all, that I'm simply too tired to write?

As I've mentioned in this blog before, I've been having trouble writing over the past year or so. I've resolved many times to get back on the writing wagon, and what else is there to do except to resolve once again.

In the past, regular participation on ARWZ has been a boon to my writing, and so I'm going to make an effort to blog and post in the Writing Forums more often in the hope that it will help get my writing back on track.

As I struggle to recommit myself to writing and to get my current projects cooking, I will ruminate over what problems I might be having, and in doing so, hopefully find a way around them.

Stay tuned as I ask myself...

"Am I too (*fill in obstacle here*) to write?"

So, I got about a page written last night (when I talk about a "page" I mean 12pt Times font, single spaced, which is the format I prefer to use when composing initial drafts). Not only that, but I found myself interested in writing further. About forty minutes in, I felt like I hadn't written much when actually my start point was off the screen.

Unfortunately, a page counts for a substantial amount of writing nowadays. There was a time in my life where I wrote a chapter a day. But now a page a day is a triumph.

Still and all, the greater triumph was the fact that I got absorbed in what I was writing and essentially "forgot" that I was doing it. One of my biggest problems lately has been talking myself into writing, because it has felt more like a chore and less like the artistic passion it should be. I struggle to put words on the page and writing just a paragraph can feel like a monumental endeavor.

This week has only proven my underlying suspicion. I have to "live" my writing more if I want to get into it. Writing a page or paragraph here and there, some days but not others, then putting it out of my mind for the rest of my days... it doesn't breed the creativity I need to get into the story.

The problem is breaking the cycle. If writing seems like a chore, I do it less often, and I talk myself into watching a DVD or going online instead of writing when I have free time. Yesterday afternoon during my allocated writing time I did precisely that: I talked myself into working on ARWZ rather than writing. I got wrapped up in coding, and before I knew it, there went my writing time. In effort to compensate, I resolved not to watch a DVD when I got home from dance training (like I usually do) and instead wrote. And it worked out wonderfully.

Now I just have to strengthen my resolve thusly more often. If I don't, I'll fall back into the "writing as chore" trap.

Vicious circle anyone?

So I actually got around to writing today. I didn't, unfortunately, get any writing done on Saturday. But no matter, I broke my unintentional week's writing fast tonight. The problem was, I just didn't feel into it...

Once again!

This is my persistent problem, and it's a problem that has plagued me for about a year now. It's not writers' block so much as writers' unenthusiasm. Undoubtedly a number of factors are at play, but I've pinpointed a few issues.

It was last year�or more precisely, the beginning of last year, and end of 2006�that I got an education in novel submissions. I went through a very intense period of writing and submission to agents. I learned A LOT about the submissions process and about what's marketable... and I found out what serious mistake I'd been making for a good many years in a row.

I had been writing sequel after sequel to an unpublished novel. What happened at the end of 2006 is that I exhausted the agent pool for this particular first novel of my epic series and realized that while I was hugely productive as a writer, I had nothing else to submit. Sure, I had four more recent novels in the can, but all of them were sequels, and none could stand alone in a way that would make it marketable to agents.

Thus I learned an important lesson: until selling a novel to a publisher, one should NOT write sequels.

And so, I set out to write new novels with new concepts and new characters. This endeavor was initially successful. I started one new novel in the fall of 2006 that was going well, and then started another new novel that took me completely by storm. It got me so interested and so inspired that I finished both the novel and major revisions on the novel within three months.

Since then, I've been having problems. I took some time off from writing immediately following that novel so that I could clear my head and finish my Master's degree. But then I couldn't really get back into anything. Not the unfinished novel from the fall, not a new novel, not even the nth sequel to my ongoing epic. Nothing I have written since that time has captured my imagination like my old novels used to.

Part of the problem is that my life has been topsy-turvy. Since graduating with my MA, I've found myself in a limbo of financial insecurity and careerlessness. I've been working a ton of different jobs, both paid and unpaid, in effort to try to make something respectable of my life. On the one hand I've been lucky to find them, but on the other, nothing has been the "big break"�or even the "little break"�I had been hoping for.

Meanwhile the writing situation has not improved. A big problem I have now is that I find I don't have the time or creative energy for "pre-writing" that I used to. I just don't find my mind wandering back to my writing projects, musing on the characters, thinking up new and interesting developments for further chapters.

Another problem is that when I do sit down to think, to brainstorm on story ideas, I find myself constantly running into brick walls. The potential storylines that most capture my imagination tend to be very traditional medieval fantasy stories. But then I can't help but remember all the agents and experts who told me what an oversaturated genre that is right now. Traditional medieval fantasy has very little chance of selling unless it's slam-bang-slap-you-in-the-face fabulous.

So I try to think up something different, something with a new conceptual edge... but when I do, my enthusiasm lasts for about three pages. Then I realize that none of the characters have conflicts that compel me, and if they don't compel me, how on earth are they going to compel readers?

This and about 300 words is the sum total of my weekend's writing effort.

This has been a particularly productive week for ARWZ, I feel like I've gotten a lot done that I've been intending to do for awhile.

However, it's been somewhat frustrating for my writing. It seems like the nature of my schedule is such that if I want to add one thing, I have to sacrifice another, and it's my writing that got sacrificed this week.

In general, I've been having a hard time getting into the groove of writing lately. I keep plugging forward, writing a page here and there, and so I keep producing, but I fear without putting in the time to write, I'll never get deep enough into any of my projects to get enthusiastic about them.

My goal this week is to write for at least a half hour every day. I don't know how it's going to work out, but cross your fingers. I'll keep you updated.

My first challenge is whether I can fit in some writing before I get my inaugural golf lesson this afternoon. Wish me luck! (on both, I suppose)

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Hi Everyone! I'm excited to announce a new feature here at ARWZ that's been in development for quite some time.

Ever since last summer we've been working toward the integration of the ARWZ forums with a blogging system. We first attempted to integrate blogs into the forum by assigning post-restricted forums to users, but it was clear that these were just another way to post on ARWZ, and clearly no substitute for having your own blog under your own control.

Well, now we have them! ARWZ is a fully functional blogging community. And better yet the blogs are at once separate from and integrated with the forums. So while your blog is on its own page, with its own design, colors and feel just like on a livejournal or wordpress�your entries are also highlighted here on the forums, and users here can check your blog at the same time they check the forums. For more information read our blogs info page:

https://www.arwz.com/zineblogs.php

Check out my first attempt at an ARWZ blog for just one example:

https://www.arwz.com/arwz/weblog.php?w=1

I'm hoping all you folks will consider starting a blog here on ARWZ. Use it to write about SFF books and movies, keep a journal of your writing process or anything, really, that strikes your fancy. You can get started by clicking here:

https://www.arwz.com/arwz/weblog_config.php

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. If you run into any trouble with the blogs or wonder about features we could add, just let me know!